Anyone else? How do you deal with this?
 

About a month ago I had a pretty bad accident with my car, the studs snapped off at high speed on a highway. I lost my front wheel and luckily survived. I was on the way to a race and was driving the speed limit (+10) duh. Today was my first day back in a RWD car and I was driving in a driving road....I found myself afraid and unable to drive like I used to and I always had a fear of the car slipping away from me....anyone else had these experience and how did you deal with it?

I love driving and RWD but now I feel safer in a FWD or 4WD it bothers me because I'm such an advocate of purity in my driving.

Help?

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYIKdQcqbjI"]Cougar In The Car I - YouTube[/ame]

I think that's a natural reaction to a traumatizing experience. I used to drive my MR2 pretty aggressively, until some cop gave me a ticket when I gave it some gas while making a right turn from a stop and the wheels slipped -_- To this day I shudder and tense up when I see a cop car, and am terrified of the sound of tires squealing.

Kind of analogously, I went skiing a lot the past season and after a bad wrist sprain I got a lot more afraid and it became a lot less fun. If you get hurt or have a scary experience, you become a lot more careful.

That said, I went to an autocross in November for the first time, and pushing the car to the max for a day kind of got me enjoying driving a lot more than I did before.

1. Torque wrench.
2. Less speed.
3. Different car/studs.
4. Time.

In all seriousness, it just takes time. I hit a deer at 75MPH a few years back, and it took me a while to get back to where I was behind the wheel.

Time, new experiences, and skill building all help. Go do an autocross or a driving school (HPDE's are fun, and can help but only with a good instructor and probably not as a first step).

The more fundamental skills and car-control techniques you master, the less likely you are to lose your confidence (you're never immune, but you can lessen the chances, duration, and severity of the effects).

It's not like a fwd or awd car would make losing a wheel any less harrowing. Learn from the experience and grow as a driver and a person; fear is a poor motivator of good choices.

Took me over 10 years to go back to RWD after wrecking my 93' FD and almost dying.

FR-S, and AP2 S2K helped me gain my confidence back. Now I just chill in the Lex cruising around np.

STi, and a few FWD hondas were my ride after I crashed the FD. That definitely helped.

Your story really makes me want to upgrade my ball joints very soon. =)

I don't truly understand how the studs breaking off would make you afraid of RWD. Can this not happen with FWD and AWD?
RWD cars do not just slip out and were all there was for most of car history.
Your mother drove them.
Your grandmother drove them.
Your great grandmother drove them.
And if young enough your great great grandmother drove the.
Al of them did it without the benefit of electronic safety devices and with mechanical equipment that would be terrorizing to many now.


As has been said just do it, take it easy and eventually you will regain confidence again.


Half the people here talk like they drive the car 9/10 all the time when in fact they are probably driving it more like 6/10. Just drive them like a normal car at about 4/10 and all will be good.

Go drive. You will get over it, but only if you get back on the horse.

It is not whether a car is fwd, rwd or awd that makes them/you safe. It is your attitude and the integrity of the car that makes them safe or not.

Just as an aside. I had a warmed-over fwd car. It had creamy smooth lift off oversteer but in the wet I had to be cautious otherwise I would end facing the wrong way.

It took me a while to regain my confidence when I bought my FR-S. The previous car was a '92 MR2, definitely the scariest car I've ever owned in terms of handling when driven near it's limit. (Probably could have done better with some new suspension and professional suspension tuning) In any case-it took me a while to start playing with the FR-S. I had an unreasonable fear of the car going into an uncontrolled spin when exiting corners on the throttle. I prefer the front-engine/rear-drive layout, hands down. Much more forgiving. :(

There you go ......... :clap:


humfrz

Amen. That's all there is to it. Fix it, get out to the track, and drive the piss out of it.